by Alex A. Kecskes

With spring almost upon us, pest birds will be scouting out new locations for nesting and roosting. They can do a lot of damage to your store. Here’s one area of your store that may be particularly vulnerable and what you can do to protect it.

Problem: Store signage—whether it’s constructed of glass, metal, plastic or even a composite material—is attractive to most pest birds.  Signs are usually elevated and often have a number of nooks and crannies where birds can conceal themselves from predators. Birds also like the warmth many signs offer, which comes from the lighted bulbs inside.  During daylight hours, sun filters into glass and plastic and acts like a solarium for birds, keeping them nice and toasty.

When birds build nests in signs, they leave droppings, feathers and other debris in and around them. This material is perfect kindling for starting a fire. But even if they don’t start a fire, these materials are unsightly and block out light. Eventually, the droppings will eat into the signage materials and destroy the sign. Either way, you’re faced with some very expensive repair and cleanup costs.

Associated with birds nesting in signs is the problem of bird droppings right below the sings. This can lead to dangerous slip-and-fall hazards for both employees and customers. The legal liability here can be ruinously expensive.